


Christmas Night in Harabah

by Ysavvryl



Category: Persona 3
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-12
Updated: 2018-01-12
Packaged: 2019-03-03 22:55:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13351236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ysavvryl/pseuds/Ysavvryl
Summary: Tartarus does not care what you did last night, but Junpei does.





	Christmas Night in Harabah

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kaerstyne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaerstyne/gifts).



Someone was lost in the Harabah block of Tartarus. They’d rescued several other ordinary citizens from the tower over the course of this year. However, Harabah was a huge section of Tartarus. It was difficult for even Fuuka to pinpoint where one person might be. They’d decided to split into two search parties for this. On the lower floors, Akihiko, Ken, and Koromaru would be searching. Minako, Yukari, and Junpei would search from the middle teleporter on up. It left Mitsuru and Aigis to make sure Fuuka was safe on the ground floor, or to swap in if someone got tired.

It wasn’t easy to search Harabah even if they could narrow down the floors. The glowing rainbow designs everywhere made the shadowy corners harder to see. If the person was on or by one of those big mandala designs, they’d stand out. But if they were against the black walls, the glow might obscure them. Yukari’s eyes were already aching after five floors of this, but there was still more to search.

While it was pretty in its own way, she thought the Christmas lights that had been up in Paulownia Mall had been much prettier. The gold and white lights cascading through the air made such a familiar place so different, like a dream. Or maybe the dream had been something she’d not seen coming: admiring those lights with someone she loved, a love she’d not expected to be real at all. But it was real, and Minako had even made chocolate truffles for her, and they were amazing and she was amazing, and just… there were terrible things hanging over their heads this month, yes, but Yukari was wonderfully happy in spite of it all.

And then she bumped into Junpei as they came to a split in the hall. “Oops, sorry,” she said, stepping back.

“Don’t be daydreaming, Yukari,” Junpei said. Sometimes he was still in a mood to joke around, but given all that had happened, it was understandable that it wasn’t easy for him now. “Huh, must’ve been quite a hot date if it’s still got you distracted.”

“Don’t be...” Yukari started to snap at him, but then stopped herself. He really wasn’t all that bad; he was even getting better. “Oh, never mind.” She glanced into one of the turns, into a dead-end room. No one in there, and the platforms here weren’t big enough to hide by.

“It’s okay, you can tell him if you want,” Minako said. When Yukari looked at her, she smiled sweetly. It looked off in the funky lighting of Harabah, but it was still cute.

“Tell me about what?” Junpei asked, raising an eyebrow at this.

“Well we don’t want rumors blowing up out of control,” Yukari said. “But, I went out with Minako last night.”

“Oh, you had one of those friend dates,” Junpei said, rubbing his neck. “Yeah, you wouldn’t want that to get into the rumor mill.”

“No, silly, we were out on an actual date,” Minako said, trying to lighten things up.

“Huh?” Then his eyes bugged out. “HUH?! Wait, you two, are actually dating? How long has this been going on?”

“Yeah, we are actually dating,” Yukari said, feeling cheered up despite the weird surroundings. “And it hasn’t been that long; last night was our first date. It was really nice.”

“That’s not something I ever expected to hear,” Junpei said, still confused about it. But he smiled anyhow, trying to be friendly. “But, hey, good for you two. If anybody gives you crap about it or is a creeper, then I’ll stick up for you. That’s a promise.”

Yukari giggled at that. “Oh really, you?”

“Hey, you can count on me!” Junpei said, easing up more.

“Of course, we can count on Junpei any time,” Minako said.

“Hey guys?” Fuuka said. From the way she was acting, she hadn’t heard what they’d been discussing just now. “Akihiko’s group has found the missing woman; they’re bringing her back down now.”

“That’s good,” Minako said. “I have a couple other things I’m looking for up here, so we’ll keep heading to the top of Harabah. The others can train on other floors if they want.”

“Got it,” Fuuka said. “We should be prepared in case something happens.”

“Right, there’s some dangerous people in Tartarus still,” Yukari said. Although Jin and Takaya had said they were heading to the top of the tower, they’d not run into those two since Chidori… Junpei looked grim at the reminder.

“Besides, we haven’t found an exit portal on this level,” Minako said. “It’s one of the huge winding ones too.”

“There haven’t been many Shadows here, though,” Yukari said, which was odd. And this quiet was enough for her mind to start wandering back to their date last night. At least they’d managed to find a moment of cheer out of that.

“You’re right,” Fuuka said, then gasped. “W-wait, that shadow, it’s the Reaper! And it’s right by the stairs this time.”

“Damn, now what?” Junpei asked, gripping his fist tight.

That faint sound of chains could now be heard. “Um, I’m pretty sure this level is a circle, so we could take the long way around,” Yukari said, trying to recall the layout.

However, Minako looked off in the direction of the chains, a thoughtful look on her face. “Nah, let’s go fight it.”

“What, are you serious?” Junpei asked. “I mean, I’ll do my best, but we could get killed in seconds against that Shadow.”

“Well we’re going to tell Ryoji that we’re not afraid of facing death, right?” Minako asked. They hadn’t discussed that as a group recently, but Yukari knew she and Mitsuru would. And, Junpei nodded to that too. “So we’ll go beat up the Reaper as proof of that. I’m sure we can handle it now.”

“All right, but we’ll run if things get too close, okay?” Yukari asked, worried about Minako being reckless here. “We’re not going to let anyone die against that monster.”

“Yeah, it’d be awesome if we could beat the Reaper, but we’re not going to take too many risks,” Junpei said, very serious now.

“Got it,” Minako said, smiling confidently.

And then they went and beat up the Reaper, getting a very bloody button as a trophy.


End file.
